I started with an old and very tired spring onion which I chopped up (always chop up to the very end of the green bits as well as the white, there is nothing wrong with them, but many people only chop the white and throw away the stalk) added a couple of cloves of chopped garlic. I had some bits of chicken in the freezer from a cooked chicken I had a couple of weeks ago so that came out.
A quick trip into my garden got me some cabbage leaves, which I am sharing with slugs and snails, but I don't mind the odd tooth mark in there.
Chopped that up and finally a couple of little plum tomatoes.
Put some noodles on to boil and then stir-fried the lot together. I whipped up a quick sauce with a tablespoon of soy sauce, a teaspoon of peanut butter, some flaked chillies and some lime juice.
Added the sauce at the end and then mixed in with the noodles. Some chopped parsley finished it off.
Very delicious and all from a small amount of food that was in the cupboard or freezer already. Would have cost me only a few pence to be honest.
Next I made an apple and fruit crumble. These cooking apples I picked out of the bin at a friends house. I opened up his bin and there they were, he said the were too tired to eat now - not for me! I picked them out of the bin (it was pretty clean, but they are to be peeled anyway)
Cooked them up with some berries I found in the freezer and then quickly rubbed together some flour, butter and sugar and hey presto, a couple of crumbles, one for my dinner tonight and one for the freezer.
I will stick one of them in the oven later to cook for dinner, and the other one can go into the freezer for a treat some time in the future.
There is something immensely satisfying from cooking food that has been 'found' or grown by you, and making delicious meals for so little money and effort.
:0) Looks yummy!! x
ReplyDeleteIt was! Am about to tuck into the crumble now, mmm
ReplyDeleteWell done! Good salvaging techniques...it reminds me somehow of the childrens' book 'Stone Soup' :)
ReplyDeleteWell done, you! A frugal and satisfying meal, indeed!!
ReplyDeleteWhy do people throw away perfectly good food? there was nothing wrong with those apples!
ReplyDeleteOne man's trash is another's treasure! :) It's also a bit annoying to see people with fruit trees - especially apples - who let their harvest go to waste.
ReplyDeleteYou see it all the time near me. In fact I have a friend with a cherry tree in her garden but she won't eat them because she doesn't trust them - even though she has watched me eat them and make jam from them. She thinks they may poison her and prefers to buy hers from the supermarket.
ReplyDeleteDan, I have been looking at an interesting web site. This might give you some good reading material before your big move. Have a look at
ReplyDeletehttp://www.eco-logicbooks.com
Thanks Sarina, I had a quick look, very good website with some wonderful books.
ReplyDeleteHi, Have just come across your blog. Your stir fry looks good. Will have a look at your older posts.
ReplyDeleteDinner looks good. I bet it was tasty too. Our tonight's meal was 'left overs' from the barbeque last night with the addition of oniony gravy, bulked out with home grown potatoes, broccoli, peas and carrots. We've still got some left so that will be tomorrow's dinner aswell. I never forward menu plan - just decide on the day by looking in the freezer at foods we buy when bargains are to be had and by looking in the garden. We hardly ever throw away anything that is left - I generally turn it into another meal with a little bit of creativity.
ReplyDeleteLove from Mum
xx
Welcome Miss Piggy Bank, I am checking your blog out too. I hope you enjoy.
ReplyDeleteHello mum. Thank you. The one thing my own mum did, was NOT teach me how to cook. So I went out and I learnt. I may not be jamie, but I survive totally without ever touching ready made food or take away food and make everything from scratch. I love making frugal stuff from leftovers - I enjoy the challenge of making something delicious without a recipe now.
absolutely love this post...I do a lot of "bits and bobs" cooking, but I don't think to post about it, thinking folks would prefer to see recipes. you've made me think otherwise, so thanks!!
ReplyDeleteGreat post. It looks delicious. Thanks for the reminder that a good meal can be made from what others consider scraps.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys, really nice to see you here.
ReplyDeleteJust came across your blog today so I'm going to sit a while and read older posts. Great food you made today. It's very satisfying using up leftovers knowing you have not wasted anything.
ReplyDeleteThank you Karen, I hope you enjoy your reading. I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks because I have been away, but hope to find the time in the next few days.
ReplyDeleteThe sauce you made sounds tasty, I'll have to give it a go. Supermarket ones never taste quite right (kind of gooey) and are expensive.
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty good Crafty. Someone recently gave me a jar of chilli peanut butter (too weird for words) and although it isn't very nice as peanut butter, it works great as a base for a stir fry sauce. I would never bother with a supermarket sauce, very expensive as you say, and the gooeyness must be chemical based don't you think?
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to resist the urge to comment on too many of your old posts as I trawl the archives but this reminded of one of the worst moments of totally flummoxed I've ever had. Was in a friend's house a couple of years ago and she started busily sorting through her fruit bowl and dumping stuff out onto the counter to get rid of. This, mind you, is a woman who grew up on a farm so absolutely no excuses about not knowing where her food comes from. I asked her what she was throwing out and she showed me some nectarines (in February) that were starting to get a bit squishy and four or five apples that were absolutely perfect. When I asked her why she said that she was sure they had been bought at least two weeks ago, so obviously they needed to get thrown out. Pure madness. And not even any attempt to think about pureeing them for the freezer (she had a one-year-old at the time, mushed up fruit would have been perfect) or anything. At least I managed to persuade her to give me the apples (which I think I used about three months later) and join me in eating a couple of nectarines then and there. Whatever about people getting obsessed with best before dates, throwing something out just because you bought it x number of days ago is just too much.
ReplyDelete